Electrical signaling apparatus.



J. D. NELSON. ELECTRICAL SIGNALING APPARATUS.-

APPLIOATION FILED MAY 4. 1907.

Patented May 4, 1909.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

$224 w .4 TTOR NE Yv WITNESSES (if KM s arnivfr oriuon JAMES D. NELSON, OF'GINGINNAT I, OHIO ELECTRICAL SIGNALING APPARATUS.

To all whom my concern:

Belt known that I, Janus D. NELSON, a

i citizen of the United States of America, and resident of'Oincinnati, county of Hamilton,

State of Ohio, have invented certain new and usefulflmprovements in Else trical Signahng pparatus, of which the following is a specification I A Myinvention relates to signaling appara tus, which include an electrical circuit, interposed in'which are signaling devices, or boxesQ-which may be actuated to make and break the circuit andthereby to send in sign'als'to a'main oflice. The object of my invention is an apparatus of this kind wherein the actuation or pulling. of one signal box automatically prevents the running of another be): until the firstone actuated has iinished sending in its signal, wherein should two boxes be pulledsimultaneously, the one nearest the oflice autoinatically prevents those more remote from sending in their messages until it has finished its message, and in which, should the circu t bec'onie broken or opened bc yond a s1gnal,means s provided whereby .the box'ma'y still send in its message This object is attained by-the means described in the specification and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which,

Figured is a diagrammatical view of an A a aratus enrbod 'in m invention showing the. office or receiving part of the apparatus, in detail, and the s gnaling devices, or boxes" in a general way. Fig. 2 1s a detail view upon an enlarged-scale, of one of the gr lled; Th

boxes.

A general description of my, apparatus is this: The circiritis normally supplied with an. undulating current, such as an alternat ng current, or a reversed current. When the-boxes are in their normal position, the

current doesnot pass through them, but

when the handleorlever of a box is pulled, this dn cctsithe: current through that signal box. 111 goin through the hex, the-current )1 This signaling switch is to bevlbrated by a wheel, which is held locked by a clock mechanism, which" in turn is locked by a pawl held normally in position bya cam, which is con nectodfto thearmaturc of a magnet, through which the current passes when. the box is mag'n .t, vibrates the armature, and a passing of the current through Patented May 4, 1909.

certain number of vibrations of the arma-t ture turns the cam adistance such as to release the pawl, which has been looking the clock mechanism. 'The clock mechanism then vibrates the switch, which breaks the circuit, and thcreby sends the signal back to the main office. The first break in the circuit has the effect of changing the current in the circuit from an undulating one to a direct current. Since it requires an undulating current to release the clock mechanism, it is seen that other boxes which may be pulled will not have their clock nicchanisin released to send in a signal until the first box to be pulled has completed its signal. Having given this 'enoral idea of the operation of my dcvicefi will now proceed to give a dcscription more in detail.

eicrring to Fig. 1 a, indicates a source of electrical energ' from which a positive current proceeds to brush, (1/. a, indicates the negative source of supply connected to a brush, a a, is a cylinder which carries electrical conductors, a, a, which "()litktot the brushes, 0/, a a a, arc semi-cylindrical rings mounted upon cylinder, (1 Scniicylindrical ring, a, is in elect-rind communication withcthe positive band, a, and semicylindrioal ring, alps in electrical communication with the negative band, a". a is rotated by a motor, B. While the cylinder, a, is kept rotating, it is seen that the brush, 0, will supply an undulating current to the main line, (J, which passes around a magnet, 0, and thence past the signaling dr-viccs, D, D, I), D, etc., and thence to the ground at 0, beyond the last of the signaling devices. At each signaling device, a switch, 0", is inserted in the circuit. nori'nally upward by the lever, (I, of the signaling device, so that it makes contact with point, e, but when the lever, d, is pulled downward, switch, 0?, falls by gravity, or is pushed downward by a spring, 0 so as to come into contactwith point, c, which is connected with a Wire, 0 which leads to one pole, e, of a polarized ma 'nct, is wound around that pole, proceeds tdicnce to a con- {tact point, "e thence is wound around the Cylinder,

Switch, 0 is hold other pole, :e', of the magnet and passesfice, may pass through the line, C, to the contact point, c,.then'ce through the'switch, F,"

contact point, through t pulled. The other end of the lever, F',.c ar

= ries a wheel, j, which is held in contact with I fanism, which is normally locked by a pawl,

a H, which is rotated by the vibration of armature, E, which 1s pivoted at, e between the 2O a pinion, g, of a clock mechanism. This inion, g, has teeth, 9, at intervals, so that w en the pinion, g, is rotated, the teeth, g, willin- 'termittently make contactwith} the wheel, f

and raise that end of the switch,- F, and mter1 nittently break the circuit, at, c". The pinion, g,'is actuated by suitable clock mech- G, whose end, 9 makes contact with a cam,

poles, e, e",'of the magnet. As long as the undulating current is passing through the circuit, C, the armature will vibrate between the poles, e, e, and its vibration will be communicated through pawls, e e, to a pinion, h, mounted upon the shaft of the cam, H, so that the vibration of the armature, E, communicates a rotation to the cam, H, in the direction'of the arrow, shown in Fig 2. The

cam, H, has beenset by the lever, d, through r the means of the intermediate lever, d, in 'a position'such that it will take a certain numer of vibrations of the armature, E, to 'brin the notch, k, in the cam beneath the pew, G, at which time the end, 9?, ofthe pawl, G, will drop into the notch, h, and release the clock mechanism, which will then actuate F, will change. the current from the inion, g, to vibrate the switch, E'and brea the circuit at, f, to send in the signal.

I will now describe the clock mechanism and the action of the levers, d, and d, more in detail, and-will then call attention to the mechanism whereby the first break inthe circuit caused by the vibration of the switch,-

a,n 'undulating, to a direct one. Lever, d, is jourwhich a coiled spring, 9', is'wound. Lever, d, carries a awl, 0?, which engages the teeth,

9,, forms uponthe whee1,,g The pulling down ofthe lever, d, coils the spring, more tightly, so that upon the release of I pinion, the spring will cause it to,be raised again until it comes intocontact with stud;-

d, at which oint thearm of the lever, (i, will have mar e contact with the switch,; 0 and have thrown it into contactwith the point, e. Pinion, g", mesheswith a pinion, .,which in turn meshes with a small" inion, '9, mounted Iipon the shaft of pinion, g", the last bf which is normally engaged by .the pawl, G. Pinion, g a so intermeshes with-a pinion, g", mounted u on the same shaft with the pinion, g. hrou h. this strain of gears, the rotation of the wheel, 9 is conveyed to the pinion, y, when the pawl,

G, hasreleased the pinion, g. Lever, df has a stud, dt, whichengages the upper end of;

stud, 72}, upon the cam, H. When the lever,

d, is pulled downward, it rotates the1ev'er,-.

(1', about its-fulcrum point, (1", and the end,

d, of the lever rotates the cam,- H,-so that the awl,-- G, is raised out of 'the notch, 7i, and mterlocked-with the pinion, g and likewise places the cam, H, in relationto the pawl, G, such that it will take a certain number of vibrations of the armature, E, to,

bring the notch, h, underneath the awl, G,

to release the pinion, y to set 1; e clock mechanism in' motion switch, F.

The first break the lever, F, causes the cylinder, aflat the main office (see Fig. 1 to cease revolving in the circuit, C, made by I and to vibrate the and thereby changes the current in the main c line, C, from an undulating to a direct current. The'means by which this break in the current, .0, is instrumental in creating this change in the circuit, is as follows: Adjacent to cylinder, 0;, is a magnet, J, whose-armature, 9', when the magnet, J, isdenergized,

is drawn b a.- s rin into contact with the teeth, a, secured upon the end of the cylinder, 0;, in order to stop the rotation thiircof.

The connection between the shaft, a,,g)l' the cylinder, (1*, and the shaft, 6, of the motor, B, is frictional, so that when the pawl, y', engages with the teeth, a l, the rotation of the c linder, a is sto )ped. The coils of magnet, are cbnnected y wires, m, with a ositive pole, of a battery M-and upon the ot ier side are connected by a wire, m, to a contact point, m which stands adjacent to the armatu're, c of magnet, c. When the magnet, a, is energized,- the armature, 0', stands in contact with the point, m

end of the armature, c", is connected by a wire, in, and a Wire M with the'negative pole of battery M. ,Adjacent to the free end of .armature, c, is a second contact point, or, from which-a wire, m, leads through a gong, P, to the ositive' do of a batteryM? When t e first reak in the circuit, C, is made by the switch, F, the magnet, c, be-

comes .dene-rgized fora moment and the spring, 0, then draws the armature, e, into contact with the contact'point, m. This. breaks the circuit from the. battery, M, through the magnet, J, n 'hi'ch deener izcs the same and permits the spring, 7'', to raw The opposite I the armature, J, into contact with a tooth, I

-a, thereby stopping the rotation of the main inc, Q, to a direct current. The return -moven1'ent of the armature, 3, toward themagnehd, is retarded by clock work, 7', so that the intermittent energy of the magnet, c,"while the switch, F, is vibrating, is not of suliicient duration to draw the armature, 1', back into contact with the magnet, J, so that the armature, j, remains in contact with the teeth, a, until the lever, d, has regained its normal position in contact with the stud, d and the clock work, g through 9", has come to rest. While the armature is in contact with the point, m, the curreht passes through the wire, m, the armature, c,'the wire, 1a, through the gong,'P, and causes the same to ring in response to the vibrations in the switch, F, and thus gives a signal at the oliice. As soon as the clockwork, 9 through 9, has come to rest, the steady direct current through main line, C, will hold the armature, c in contact with the point, in causing the magnet, J, to remain energized, thereby throwing the armature, j, out of contact with the teeth, a", and permitting the cylinder, a to start rotating again and starting the undulations in the circuit, C, again. As long as the current in the circuit, C, remains direct, no clock-work of a box can be released, since it takes an undulating current to vibrate the armature, E. Thus, after the box has started to send in its signal, -its message cannot be interrupted b the sending of a message through another ox.

Should the levers, (i, of two or more boxes be pulled simultaneously, the messages of all boxes except the one nearest the olfice are cut oil automatically by the box nearest the otiicc in the following, manner: Adjacent to the notch, It, cam, H, has a tooth, h, which 1 just before the time the notch, h, comes to register with the pawl, G, makes contact with a switch, R, which is pivoted at, r, and stands adjacent to the cam, ii, and carries it into contact with mint, 7', which is connected by a wire, 1*, wit the contact point, a to which the wires of the poles, e, e, of the magnet are connected. he pivot, 1', of the switch, it, is connected by .a wire, 7*, with Vihen the switch, it, contacts the point, r, the current from the main lines, (1, instead of passing; through the wire, 0", and onto the other boxes, is turn d from the point, a", through the wire, ffldirough the switch, it, to the wire, 1*, and then to the ground, at, 7". Thus, before the boxes more remote from the main other, whirlrh may have been pulled at the same nearer box, have reached the point whore their cams, ll, are brought to a position to release their pawls, ii, their current is cut oil' and their armalurcs, it, will stop vibrating. 'l'hus the cam, ii, the dcprcsscd lover, (I, the pawl, i, the armai urc, l), and the rcsl'. oi the incchanisni of the box will all be hcld the ground.

in the position in which they were when thecurrcnt was cut oil' from them until thc lirst boX has .linishcd sending in its message, and the arn'iaturc, has bccn brought back into contact with the magnet, J, again starting;

an undulating current in the main line, (I,

insta nt with [he to finish the vibrations of the armature, E, in the boxes that have been stopped to allow them to send in their massages. If there be more than two of these boxes which have been stopped, it is seen that the one nearer the office will send in its message first, since it will cut oil' boxes more remote than it, until it has finished its message.

Should. the circuit, (7, become broken and left open beyond a box, I have provided means hereby the boxes between the break and the main office may send in their signals. Lever, (I of each box is provided with a strip, (1 which rides over a track, 4 of conducting material. Strip, cl", which is mounted upon the lever, d, and carries the strip, (1 is of insulating material. The strip, (1 is connected by a wire, (1, with contact points, 0*, to which the wires from the poles, c, c, of the magnet lead. The track, (i is connected by wire, d, with a condenser, (1 which is connected at d, to the ground. Now, should the circuit be open beyond a box, when the lever, (1/, 1S depressed by the lowering strip, (1 comes into contact with the track, (1 Thereupon the current 'l'lows from the circuit, C, to the point, c thence from the point, (7, through the strip, (7,, to the the condenser, d". The magnet, c, e, is made of a strength such that the winding about one pole, e, energizes the magnet sufficiently to vibrate the armature, ill, to release the clock mechanism and to send in the signal.

What I claim is:

1. In'an electrical signaling apparatus the combination of an electrical circuit, a means the circuit, signal boxes each having a circuit breaker, an operative mechanism for the circuit breaker to be set in motion by an undulating;- current and a lever for directing the current from the circuit through thesignal box and a means :icti'latcd by the breaking of the circuit to change ihe undulating current to a dircct current.

2. in an electrical sin-roiling apparatus the combination of a circuit, a means of sending an undulatingcurrent through the circuit, signal boxes each having a circuit breaker, operative mechanism for actuating the circuit breaker, a means l'or locking the operativc mechanism, an electro-nurgnct having a vibrating armature, means for actuatiiug the armature and the locking mechanism whereby a certain number ol vibrations of the armature releases the locking mechanism, and a lever for directing the current from the circuit through the clcctro-magnct and a means actuated by the breaking of the circuit to change lhc undulating current to a direct current.

l 3. ln an electrical signaling device the of the lever, (1,

track, 17 thence through the wire, (1, to:

of sending; an undulating currrut through ill) .ism for the circuit combination of a' circuit, a rotating pole 6. 'In'an electrical signaling apparatusthe changer for undulating the current passing through'the circuit, signal boxes each having a circuit breaker,

breaker to be set in motion by an undulating current and a lever for directing the current from, the circuit through the box and a means actuated by the breaking of the circuit to check the rotation of the pole changer to change the current through the circuit to a direct current. i

4. In an electrical signaling device the combination of a circuit, a rotating pole changer for undulating the current passing through the circuit, signal boxes each having a circuit breaker, an operative mechanism for the circuit breaker to be set in motion by an undulating current and a lever for directing the current from the circuit through the box, an electro-Inagnet situated adjacent tothe pole changer and having an armature to be brought'into contact with the pole changer to check its rotation'when the said magnet is denergized, a source of electrical energy connectcd toithe magnet and a switch actuated by the circuit breaker to divert the current from the electro-magnet, when a box has been pulled.

5. In an electrical signaling apparatus the combination of a circuit, a means for sending an undulating'current through the circuit, signal boxes each having a circuit breaker, operative mechanism actuating the circuit breaker, a means for locking the operative mechanism, an electro-magnet having'a vibrating armature, means for connecting the armature. and the locking mechanism wherebya certain number ofvibrations of the-armature releases the locking mechanism, a means actuated by the armature just before it completes the said number of vibrations to ground the current beyond the box for preventing the sending in of messages by two simultaneously pulled boxes, a lever for directing the current from the circuit through the box and a means actuated by the breaking of the circuit to change the undulating current to a direct current.

an operative Iriechan- Witnesses combinationof a-circuit,a means of sending an undulating current through the same, signal boxes each having a circuit breaker, an operative mechanism for the circuit breaker set in motion by an undulating current and a lever for directing the current from the circuit throughthe box, a the breaking of the circuit to change the undulating current to a direct current and condensers placed beyond each box from the 0f'-' flee and means actuated by the pulled lever of the box for utting the condenser into cir cuit when the lever is depressed.

7 ..An electrical signal box consisting of a means actuated by circuit breaker, an o erative mechanism for actuating the circuit controlling the movement of electro-n1agnet, an armature situated between its poles, means for connecting the armature and the cam whereby a vibration of the armature rotates the cam and a switch actuated by the pull-leverfor putting the electro-niagnet into circuit.

8. In an electrical signaling apparatus a circuit, signal boxes, a lever upon each box, means whereby the pulling of the lever turns the current through the box, mechanism carried by the box for breaking the circuit to send a signal, a cbndenser adjacent each box,

reaker, a ull-leverfor t e operative mechanism, a pawl for locking the operative mechanism, a cam for releasing the pawl, an;

a switch for the condenser and a means actu- I a'ted by the movement of the circuit breakin mechanism to throw the switch and place the condenser into communication with the box.

- 9. In an electrical signaling apparatus, the

combination of a normally closed circuit, a" signal box normally out of circuit, a lever in 1 the box whose pulling puts the box in circuit, a normally locked signaling apparatus in the box, means whereby the pulling of the lever releases the signaling apparatus, a con denser adjacent to the box and means for putting the condenser into circuit when the lever is pulled. V

' JAMES l). NELSQN.

WALTEKF MURRAY, AGNES MoCoRMAon. 

